Marcy Kaptur: “I thank my esteemed colleague, Congressman Mike Michaud of Maine, for allowing me this time to join him and to rise in…”

“I thank my esteemed colleague, Congressman Mike Michaud of Maine, for allowing me this time to join him and to rise in support of his motion to instruct conferees on a payroll tax cut extension bill that strikes a section that undermines the normal procedures of unemployment compensation to people who are out of work as it diverts those funds to other purposes. Here we have the hardest of hearts that exist in this House, the majority on the other side of the aisle, who allowed the market to crash in 2008, putting millions of people out of work and then throwing millions more out of their homes and turning a cold eye toward them. And then proposed to cut heating assistance to those who are struggling across this country, and then a majority on the other side voting to not extend unemployment benefits to the victims. I didn't see any enthusiasm over there for prosecuting the big banks on Wall Street and those who had committed the fraud that got us into this mess in the first place. No, they want to cut it out of the hearts of the victims. Now, the House Republican proposal in H.R. 3630 would allow States to apply for waivers to bypass basic protections and standards that now apply to the permanent unemployment extension program. States already have ample flexibility to determine eligibility for unemployment insurance benefits and to set the amount of those benefits, but they must now operate under a basic set of rules.…”